Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is about the price of one lower-class woman’s yearning to be a center of the elite’s admiration. The woman, Madame Loisel, proved to be a success in the party she and her husband attended, but eventually lost and had to replace (but not without having to undergo extreme life hardship) the borrowed diamond necklace, which turned out to be an imitation. Compared to “Moonlight,” this story also presents a woman in bad light: in it, Madame Loisel was shown as a discontent wife that deserved her fall, whereas in “Moonlight,” the Abbe Marignan’s niece was initially seen in her guardian uncle’s eyes as a wanton lady who cheated the priest by meeting her lover without his knowing. Both stories contrast in the life’s realization their characters experienced: in “The Necklace,” it took ten years for Madame Loisel to see life’s fickleness while in “Moonlight,” it took the priest only one fullness of a moonlight moment to subvert his notion about women and love.“Araby” by James Joyce is about a young boy’s disappointment over puppy love. The narrator was supposed to meet his object of affection in a bazaar, but not being able to come early to Araby cost him the love that could have been. Compared to “Clay,” this story likewise recounts disenchantment; in “Clay,” it is about a single woman’s growing frustration about spinsterhood. Both stories are alike in Joyce’s characteristic writing subtlety, but different in that his characters experienced their respective disappointments at the extremes of love’s spectrum.“The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges tells of the complicity between history and fiction, as may be seen in his other story “Theme of the Traitor and the Hero.” The first is about a Chinese spy’s testimony in helping the Germans against England, as opposed to what may be seen in the pages of history book. Both stories, employing the characteristic marvelous realism of Latin American writers such as Borges, present history in a light that seems fictionalized because of the varying perspectives it is told, thus trivialized. Meanwhile, they are contrasted in that “The Garden…” presents Yu Tsun as indeed a traitor while in the case of “Theme of the Traitor and the Hero,” Kilpatrick’s heroism or treason is ambiguous.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Ann Oakley’s sociological differentiation of “sex” and “gender” provides an insight on the terms’ function in the society we live in. On one hand, “sex” is a reference to the biological difference of male and female. On the other hand, “gender” is a parallel reference to the socially unequal difference of femininity and masculinity. The latter sparks controversy because of the social construction of differences between females and males. Citing medical studies involving hermaphrodites and other subjects with biological anomalies, Ann Oakley asserts that early on, gender permeates a person’s consciousness to create this person’s individual identity and personality.However, it is not always that one’s gender goes parallel with one’s biological identity. Biological females can perform social roles attributed to males. In the same manner, biological males can perform social roles attributed to females. Even sexually defective persons like penis-less males can crystallize a gender-defined identity for as long as they are conditioned into performing social roles assigned to males. Then again, there are instances when gender does not give any clear indication of femininity or masculinity. This seems to point out that gender is something so slippery that persons of any biological identity can switch genders or altogether defy being defined via gender.Nonetheless, in this society where our culture influences our personality and identity, masculinity and femininity continue to propagate cultural ideals and stereotypes. We still get upset by women who pursue careers such that they pose a competitive threat to professional men. We still look up to men as providers of the home even as the physiological makeup of both men and women is not regarded anymore as a basis for the assignment of soft roles for women while men are assigned the rough roles. The tip of social justice’s scale still does not budge to make structural shifts in which sexual divisions of labor in social systems and institutions may go in favor of the women. It does not have to make an entire role reversal between men and women. It just looks and feels better if women become in equal footing with men.Since across cultures, gender gets warped anyway, it should be that men and women must have equal division of labor. The homemaker need not be the wife, but can be the husband. Employment discrimination should be abolished so women may be given the chance to be promoted and to perform jobs normally associated with men. My interdisciplinary studies of issues connected to gender has enlightened me on the need to help make a balanced social construction of difference. This way, the structures of power do not have dignify men at the expense of women. After all, men and women alike are persons with respective talents, capabilities and rights.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Working with Emotional Intelligence shows the skills that make people perform well in all fields, from the lowest to the top positions. I discovered that the most significant factor is not technical expertise, professional degrees, or intelligence quotient. Instead, it is that quality called emotional intelligence. It includes characteristics like self-awareness, self-control and self-confidence. It also involves commitment and integrity. It also places openness to communication as well as charisma and capacity for change. All these, I see, are important abilities in the current professional market. They become increasingly important as a professional moves up, deciding who gets hired or fired, neglected or promoted. The book shows that I have the potential to improve my emotional intelligence. There are ways to nurture these competencies. These ways should change the way i train for me to be effective.The book is is especially important for it changed the way I think about personal excellence. I always thought that it largely meant IQ. For me, EQ is significant, but not equal to IQ in terms of the possibility of helping me move up professionally. It may matter that I come from a good school. It may matter too that in this good school, I give a good showing. However, I understand now that these are not all. I may have the skills necessary to do my job, but this is not enough. Without such passions as industry and love for work, I may just see my job as income source. I want to look at my future job as a means for personal growth. I want to consider it a vocation. This is possible if I have emotional intelligence. The book made me conscious that I may be my class' most intelligent, but that may be insufficient. I also need to develop EQ in order to excel in other aspects besides academic. This is essential because my personality is defined not only by IQ but also by EQ.The insights are useful because they prove what successful persons knew all along about being smart. It has nothing to do with excelling in facts. Instead, it has to do with excelling in my emotions. It also has to do with understanding the emotions of persons around me. Emotional intelligence has turned into the new standard for success for both junior employees and executives. Some workers depend on IQ and technical skills. Despite that, their performance can hardly do wonders to their advancement. Meanwhile, some workers depend on EQ and that explains why they move up. Furthermore, the influence of EQ grows as these star performers reach the leadership post. These insights, then, show that a different intelligence is responsible for creating leaders. This intelligence is the primary cause for these leaders' success, and I know it can help me in many personal stages in my life.It will help in my studies, in my personal life, and in my future as a professional by transforming my outlook on what being smart should be. I realized that in school, personal life and future profession, I should couple my quest for excellence with emotional intelligence. In school, it should be not enough that I master my lessons. Instead, I should be able to draw emotional skills from them. Say, in studying business subjects, I must know not just the theories that can help me earn in my future business. I must also know how I may be able to help my employees improve their lives. This may be done when I get to learn business and work ethics and leadership competency while studying. This way, not only do I enrich myself in many ways in school and in the future, but also enrich even my would-be employees with such qualities as dignity in work and love of labor. In my personal life, emotional intelligence will help me in relating with friends and family. These people have emotions too, which I want to be able to understand. At times, I misinterpret when my parents insist that we be together during Sundays for the traditional family day. I thought that they were not being supportive of my need to study, which is my pressing reason why I want to excuse myself. Having read the book, I became aware that families need to bond. My studies are important, of course, but my loyalty should go to warm beings that treat me lovingly, not to letters that can be accommodated at some manageable time.Becoming emotionally intelligent can be done anywhere from my home to my school. These places serve as my venues for dealing with persons with emotions like me. Anytime today, I can start developing my EQ so that my future can have the prospect of success.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Six Thinking Hats shows how to look at a decision from different views. The ‘Six Thinking Hats” technique shows six such different styles of thinking using the metaphor of hats. Wearing the White Hat can help me concentrate on the data available. I can look at the information I have and see what I can learn from it. I can look for gaps in my knowledge, trying either to fill them or to take them into account. This thinking can help me analyze past trends and use these data to understand the present trends. Wearing the red hat can help me look at problems using gut reaction, instinct and emotion. I can try to think how others will react emotionally. I can also try to understand the responses of people who do not fully understand my reasoning. Wearing the black hat can help me look at all bad points of the decision. I can look at the decision cautiously and defensively. I try to see why this decision might not work. This way, I can highlight my plan’s weak points and erase them, change them and ready contingency plans to counter them. Wearing the yellow hat helps me think positively. It helps me see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. It helps me keep going when everything looks negative and difficult. Wearing the green hat can help me develop creative solutions to a problem. In can help me think freely without my ideas being heavily criticized. Wearing the blue hat can help me do process control. When alternative plans are necessary, I can direct activity into black hat thinking. When ideas are lacking, I can direct activity into green hat thinking.The book is important for it helps me look at key decisions from a number of different views. I used to think that major decisions come from the general use of human reason. It helps me make better decisions by forcing me to move outside this usual way of thinking. I can make decisions using my intuition. I can also make decisions using fallback plans. I can even make decisions using a change in thinking strategy. Because of this, the book helps me understand the complexity of my decision. It is neither simple nor singular so it offers many solutions. It also helps me find problems and opportunities that I might be blind to if I went with my habitual thinking.The insights are useful because I thought that only rational and positive thinking brought forth success. This is not entirely untrue. However, this is not all the reason for success. Instead, it is just a part of it. The book offers that the problem may also be looked from an emotional, instinctive, creative or negative view. This means that success may also be had even when plans are resisted, when less popular options are chosen or when alternative plans are followed. Say, I have a plan of detouring to avoid the traffic jam and to get home for my daily rituals. Nonetheless, this plan backfires when I get caught in a graver traffic jam. I can save the day by using other solutions while in this problem. Perhaps, I can start my daily ritual by starting my study time, browsing notes and answering homework in the car. I can also ask the driver to make it to the nearest U-turn, feeling that other roads are more accessible. Whatever thinking hat I may wear, it helps my reasoning in accomplishing my desired goals.As a student, in my personal life and in my future profession, I experience problems. I may use the insights from the book to solve problems in brand new ways. I may look at my problems with the “Six Thinking Hats” technique. Then, I will be able to solve them using all approaches. My decisions and plans will combine ambition, skill, sensitivity, creativity and alternative planning. My decision and plans in school will help me achieve more if my reasoning arrives at a decision coupled with my gut feel or creative imagination. My decision and plans in my personal life will improve if I do not limit my decision in one general scope that is most likely rational. It helps too if I involve contingency planning in each decision-making process. In the future as a professional, I will not take the risk of using just one approach to corporate problems. Instead, I will look at the problem at all angles, hoping to find ways to the right solution. Seeing the problem at all available points is necessarily resorting to the “Six Thinking Hats” technique.I may be able to apply the “Six Thinking Hats” technique today and everywhere my decision matters, from my classes to my dealings with my family, friends and other people. My correct solution to each encountered problem creates an impact in my life as well as others’. Thus, I cannot leave my decision to a single chance when lots of options offer different possibilities. The “Six Thinking Hats” proves that these options are indeed possible.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

The first six chapters of Joseph Collins' What Difference Could A Revolution Make?: Food and Farming in the New Nicaragua sets the story of the transformation of a ruthless political legacy in a new Nicaragua. When the Sandinistas took over the Somoza authoritarian rule 28 years ago, it inherited a nation wherein the dominant land ownership of a tiny elite resulted to widespread malnutrition and poignant poverty, among other social ills. As a solution, the revolutionary government used the logic of the majority that meant equitable distribution of the land and a sufficient food for everyone.Contrary to notorious images of gun-wielding ideologists associated with revolutionaries, the Sandinistas are portrayed as conscientious and industrious officials determined at attaining food self-adequacy, apart from eradicating the country of the paralyzing billion-dollar foreign debt accumulated during the Somoza dictatorship.The Sandinista government bravely opposed the idealistic policy of land to the people, conscious that a cash-crop economy cannot be dismissed at once. What it did was to escalate export-earnings in order to have enough time to devise a basic foods scheme. Instead of land to the people, the motto was practically changed to land to whomever works it, a program that still left majority of Nicaragua's arable farm in the private sector.The Sandinista accomplishment told stunning tales: the production and consumption of corn, beans and rice has increased, infant mortality has lowered by 30 per cent and coffe and sugar exportation soared by 10 and 20 per cent, respectively since 1978.It is not all a success story, however, because private landowners have been generally uncooperative. They use cheap government loans to keep more money to themselves while letting farm land to go idle. Likewise, attacks by former National Guards not only heighten an anxious siege consciousness but also divert scant resources from the agricultural sector. Also, the balance of pluralism remains delicate as it may give way under the pressure of propaganda from the United States, a violence that threatens everyday to turn into a military reality.“Nicaragua is a School,” Imagine You were a Nicaraguan,” “The Peasants' Victory,” “No Ownership without Obligation,” The Failed Partneship: Big Growers and the State,” and “Spilling Credit in the Countryside” all contribute to the book's presentation of humane stories of post-revolutionary Nicaragua by focusing on how entirely depoliticized its government's food and farming program is. The Sandinistas show in action what ideologists explain in philosophy. The Nicaraguan revolution is not perfect but its imperfections, besides being easily refuted, may even be useful.Being a Third World country too like Nicaragua, the Philippines can learn the lesson of not just claiming to be concerned about the poor and the hungry. The government should not just launch exorbitant aid-supported schemes supposed to expand food production. It should also recognize the need for change like redistribution of power on fundamental resources so the poor can work for a living. Such changes may come in the guise of a pragmatic and working land reform program, the lenience to movements supporting the local agricultural sector, and an agricultural modernization that benefits the majority and that is not meant to enrich the small elite or to pit our farmers against the rapacious globalization competitions.

Friday, July 20, 2007

“Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.” – Albert EinsteinAll humans are moral. In talking about human morality, freedom, conscience and fundamental option are components that are referred to. These things that comprise human morality are the central concerns of this research, hoping that at the end of the paper, a realization will have been made regarding the moral imperatives of human mind.Freedom, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraints in choice or action.”[1] Given that human beings are alive because of desires, constraints stand opposed to choosing or acting on such desires. The necessity or coercion of not having to pursue these desires is opposed by freedom, a reason why humans like freedom and dislike oppositions to freedom. We do not welcome the presence of constraints, impediments and burdens; when they are absent, there is a cause for rejoicing because we can say we are free.The Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the power of voluntary choice—his conception of freedom—is related to moral responsibility.[2] Hence, in choosing to pursue desires, humans must do so voluntarily. It becomes not praiseworthy if humans perform involuntary actions, such as when a pilot is coerced into landing his plane in order to avoid a raging typhoon. The case does not present freedom, even as it looks like the pilot may have followed his moral responsibility of protecting his passengers from dangers posed by the storm. For humans to be truly free, we must consider moral responsibility in exercising our power of voluntary choice. Whatever desire motivates us into action, we have the freedom to think and decide about what promotes this desire as a way to achieving it. It is within our power to choose if this desire will bring us harm or good to the point that our decision will be able to tell whether we will become good or bad persons as a consequence of deciding for or against pursuing our desire.The aforementioned situation is that which relates freedom with conscience and fundamental option. We are free but this freedom must be done in the light of moral responsibility. This is a dictation of our conscience, which reminds us that God has set out moral laws meant to give us human dignity as we obey them. Our obedience to these laws serves as our fundamental option, because the free will given to us by God is itself meant to be exercised under God’s moral standards.With free will, human beings have the freedom of choice or self-determination. Given a scenario, persons could have done other than what they did after resolving a decision. Having done what they did and not otherwise, they followed their self-determination. Determination and free will are somewhat paradoxical in that the former holds that all human actions are generated wholly by preceding events instead of the exercise of the free will.[3] As it is, free will is the faculty of choice and decision that performs a rational act after complete deliberation. However, when God—the Creator who gifted humans with free will—has laid out His laws, He intended that humans obey them. Human beings will exercise their free will to choose to do good by following God’s commandments or to do bad by disobeying the same. If they do the latter, they are accountable to the subsequent human moral component.The next component of human morality is conscience, which means “an ability or faculty or sense that leads to feelings of remorse when we do things that go against our moral values, or which informs our moral judgment before performing such an action.”[4] In a religious viewpoint, conscience is that which bothers humans when something evil was committed, or that which informs them of an action’s rightness or wrongness right before it is committed. When a good thing is done, the conscience is not aroused to unbraid guilt, but when a bad thing is done especially to someone who does not deserve such evil, the conscience will haunt restlessly.It is in the nature of human conscience to remain silent over good actions and to shriek over bad ones because God has advised all men to “love thy neighbor.”[5] When humans do not comply, they disobeys God’s commandment and their conscience haunts them. Only when they confess their sins to God will they be able to clear their conscience.According to the Bible, the true Christian may have any of the three different types of conscience: a weak conscience, a defiled conscience, and a pure conscience.[6] A weak conscience is an untaught conscience because it lacks knowledge of the Bible to the extent where it is extra sensitive and brands some activities as “sins” even as they are not wrong insofar as Biblical teachings are concerned.[7] Christians with weak consciences call activities like eating meat originally offered to religious idols as wrong whereas the Bible does not condemn these in the first place. Knowing the Bible increasingly gives humans the power to strengthen their weak conscience[8] in order to see activities in consideration of God’s Words rather than of man-made Church’s culture. Meanwhile, a defiled conscience is that which has not been heeded.[9] This means that the conscience is violated when humans defy their own conscience. Finally, a pure conscience is that which is free from any offense against God or against humans who have been neglected by his fellows.[10] It is always having the ability to look God or any person in the eye knowing that there was nothing between them that had not been confessed and corrected.However, humans would offend God or fellowmen through sin if they did not maintain a pure conscience.[11] The defiled conscience through the guilt of sinning creates several effects. One such effect is having an unacknowledged offense before God and the consequential lack of courage needed to plead for spiritual growth. The desire for closeness with God through Christian sharing or Bible studying is dramatically lessened.[12] Also, a guilty conscience debilitates humans from talking to others about God because they can be accused of not having made right.[13] Lastly, continuously carrying a guilty conscience through sinning destroys spiritual lives because of the lack of closeness with God and other Christians.[14] Sinning that wrecks the conscience may be combated when humans go for a pro-God fundamental option.The third component of human morality, fundamental option, “refers to a theory of morals according to which each person gradually develops in a basic orientation of his or her life, either for or against God.”[15] If one’s life is fundamentally dedicated to the love and service of others, this fundamental direction is for God. On the other hand, if one’s life is entirely dedicated to self-love and self-service, this fundamental direction is against God.It is important to follow a fundamental option for God because being moral is required by God when He laid out His commandments. These laws are absolute truths that are accessible to all human beings. Because of this legal universality and the fact that moral law is rooted in the human condition, the moral law should be followed by all people notwithstanding their varying cultures. After all, there always remains the yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it in the depths of the human heart no matter how dissipated that person is from God.[16] In such a way, all human beings’ original goodness will figure when they are weighing between fundamental options for and against God.One important area of fundamental option which can assist humans in becoming moral beings is the fundamental stance that presents the total moral direction that human lives are taking.[17] Dividing this into more specific pieces, daily decisions and actions that compose our entire behavior, the fundamental stance gathers together our little actions to form a bigger picture that can please God because of its general morality. If everyday is lived following the directions of God, then the fundamental option is being lived.The fundamental option shows how the roots of Scripture run deep with ideas of our covenant with God through our hearts.[18] Since our heart should be seen not merely as a pumping organ but as a source for God’s love, it is helpful for us to see divine love and matters of the feelings and conscience as central to the heart. This role of fundamental option in shaping our morality becomes possible by divinely inspiring the heart in using the freedom for determining the goodness that our lives should pursue.Having seen how freedom, conscience and fundamental option interweave for Christians to live more purposeful lives under the guidance of God’s laws, I realized how tremendously blessed yet at the same time, how greatly answerable humans are for the free will given us by God. I understand that possessing an inherent power of choice makes me a master of the ship that’s my own life, but that knowledge makes me responsible too of recognizing the greater captain that God is. If I so much as steer my boat in such a manner that I see a bigger god in myself than in the universal Supreme Being, I am sure to lead my life toward the road to perdition, so to speak. I understand that my conscience will be there to remind me that something amiss was being committed; after all, it is aided by my good will, by the use of the emotions, by the practical experience of living and by all external assistance[19] in considering the right and wrong in my conduct. I am aware that all humans would need divine assistance to make their knowledge of God and knowledge of moral duty adequately comprehensive, clear, constant, effective and considerably sufficient.[20] Here, the fundamental option for God comes into the picture in order to complement with the human conscience in leading human beings to the right direction.Myself acting freely as a human being indeed introduces the moral act: whatever tiny or tremendous thing I undertake, there begins the question of doing it right or wrong. For instance, if I go take a test unprepared, will it do me any good to cheat so as to have better chances at passing the test, or do me any bad to rely on stack knowledge, hopeless about breaking through the passing mark but maintaining an unblemished honesty record? To cheat or not to cheat during an examination is itself a test for the fundamental option of choosing what good is it that I yearn for: is it the initial good of making the cut, or is it the ultimate good of remaining honest? I can act freely to feel good when I pass, or to avoid violating at least two orders in God’s Decalogue by not cheating. Cheating is popular and is something even, say, politicians have resorted to if only to sustain power and not just to pass their mark, but something popular such as this is not always right if it has to be studied in an ethical perspective. God gave us the free will intending that we make use of it to uplift His glory. Since I will be accountable for my own actions whenever I follow my free will, I want to follow what God will approve of. I want to be morally responsible for whatever I do, since free will is linked to moral responsibility.[21] This way, God and the society will not have to condemn me and, instead, regard me highly for freely willing to be morally responsible for my action. My conscience dictates that I hold my moral responsibility in a favorable light, so this will be interpreted by my action that’s good by ethical standards. This, of course, is informed by fundamental option for God. Everyday is an opportunity for me as well as for other people to do actions that are oriented towards answering God’s call.[22]My fundamental decision to choose between bipolar options is always informed by the circumstances that have shaped me to be the human that I am at present. Having been raised as a Christian in this predominantly Catholic nation, the teachings in the Bible are the guideposts by which I attempt to live my life. I may be far from being saintly, yet I believe that I am trying my very best to be for God always—loving God, obeying my parents, respecting my siblings, being sincere to others as well as to myself—seeing that an option for good is an orientation of myself toward goodness, which is always associated with the unchanging and enduring God. Conversely, an option for evil is tantamount to becoming one with evil, as when one abandons his faith in God and put prime worship in material wealth or hedonistic lifestyle. The conscience here is so defiled that one has forgotten to delineate between what is ethically right and what is ethically wrong. Humans may be free to do what they will, but they are responsible of their actions. Hence, it is better to choose a fundamental option that manifests progressive actions toward God because the conscience will not bother the concerned and their orientation will be pro-God.This reality suffused with the themes of free will, conscience and fundamental option is especially true to my social sphere. Whenever I am confronted about my one-degree separation from people of certain renown, local celebrities for example, I got to thinking about the cosmetic surgery not a few of them are openly undergoing time after time in their bid to defy the elements of time or to enhance their God-given looks. Do these people commit an act of defiance against God by altering their natural beauty? They follow their free will, but is their conscience unbraiding when cosmetic procedures supposedly improve what God gave to them naturally? Since they capitalize not only on their supposed talents but also on their physical allure, are they against God each moment and the whole time they go under the knife? The basic option of appreciating the uniqueness of person that God granted them is everlasting, granted that what’s superficial is fleeting and will vanish anyway. Still, some dare choose what’s earthbound-durable. Their very actions show that their orientation may be selfish instead of divine because as a whole, the outcome of their freedom of choice may have little impact on their conscience. Therefore, their negative fundamental option serves themselves more than it does God, as catered by their vanity and, on a deeper level, loose morals.Meanwhile, I assess that non-Christians may still be choosing God in their virtues that mirror their most deep-seated beliefs.[23] I hold in high regard the very believers who might have not known Christ for one reason or another but still pursue His godly equivalent in their lives. God may come to them in the form of a rock, a rainbow or a storm, and they concede to the fact that the events happening to them are being woven by the invisible hands of a Supreme Being. They might have not named this Being as God, but to them, the blessings of rain and harvest and the deemed curses of volcanic eruption or epidemic are permitted by God to unravel to them the powerful entity that God is. In short, they are laudable for their pursuit of moral acts in the context of their good although non-Christian lives. This is in stark contrast to a baptized Christian but does not live a life of one who believes in God. “Santong kabayo,” a song succinctly puts it, is that Christian whose fundamental option should have been guided by what is morally good taught him but will break one or all of the Ten Commandments at the slightest provocation. These two polar profiles share consistency in their repeated rightness or fatal flaws, solidifying every particular decision into the fundamental option of being for God or against God. Both cases show the practice of free will, but whose results are opposite because the former choose to become godly while the latter choose to be a hypocrite. The latter, needless to say, does not have a well functioning conscience anymore because the way of their ill hearts are moving away from morality.Since my individual choices or any other person’s for that matter are influenced by fundamental options, I crystallize my ultimate decision to be for God or for myself, depending on whether I gravitate toward good or I lean toward evil. I freely will to be for God under the pains of a guilt-ridden conscience. I see that little things done for the greater glory of God is possible, so I am assured that even the smallest deeds get magnified in the eyes of God. It is not in vain then to resist the temptation of lying when truth merits more, or of abusing friends’ academic helpfulness when persistence to study for exams ranks far better. As mentioned, I may be a dream away from being beatified by the Vatican, but the satisfactorily united moral life I lead now is a life replete with considerable virtues and prudence, I admit with all humility. I understand the constancy and essence with which humans like me should keep the covenant with God that is none other than His laws, and by abiding by these commandments through my daily actions great or small, I conscientiously choose to be good and I freely will to be for God.Time will come when I will perish and along with this material body goes away my temporary human free will. In my everyday dealings with others and events, I get educated and my morality develops such that I become wise in decision-making. While white lies may save me at some point, I opt to be truthful. While hate or quarrel could bring out the human in me, I choose to love. Ultimately, I decide to be conscientious since this fundamental option fuels my moral living. I along with other human beings cannot choose any better.***Bibliography:I Corinthians 8:1-13.I Corinthians 8:7.I John 3:21-22.I Peter 2:12.I Peter 3:16.I Timothy 1:5.I Timothy 1:18-19.II Timothy 1:13.Acts 24:16.Aristotle. Thoughts on Freedom. From http://library.thinkquest.org/18775/aristotle/freear.htm.Accessed on July 12, 2007.Catholic United for the Faith. Fundamental Option. From http://www.cuf.org/Faithfacts/details_view.asp?ffID=241. . Accessed on July 14, 2007.Catholic Encyclopedia: Conscience. From http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04268a.htm.Accessed on July 13, 2007.Conscience. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscience. Accessed on July 13, 2007.Dave Arch. The Conscience. From http://www.askapastor.org/conscience.html. Accessed on July 12, 2007.Determinism. From http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/text/determin.htm. Accessed on July 12, 2007.Free Will. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will. . Accessed on July 12, 2007.Karen Shields-Wright. Reflections: Fundamental Option and the Virtues of the Provider. Dynamic Chiropractic. (United States: June 15, 1998, Volume 16, Issue 13.)Merriam-Webster. Definition of Freedom. From http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/freedom.Accessed on July 13, 2007.Matthew 22:36-40.Pope John Paul II. Veritatis Splendor. From http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html. Accessed on July 12, 2007.Psalm 32:1-5.Stephen Torraco. Fundamental Option. From http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/dissent/fundoptn.htm. Accessed on July 14, 2007.Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. From http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2109.htm. Accessed on July 12, 2007.Thomas G Lederer. Catholic Moral Theology: “Whose Sin is this Anyway?” From http://www.arthurstreet.com/moraltheology.html. Accessed on July 13, 2007.Titus 1:15.***[1] Merriam-Webster. Definition of Freedom. From http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/freedom. Accessed on July 13, 2007.[2] Aristotle. Thoughts on Freedom. From http://library.thinkquest.org/18775/aristotle/freear.htm. Accessed on July 12, 2007.[3] Determinism. From http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/text/determin.htm. Accessed on July 12, 2007.[4] Conscience. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscience. Accessed on July 13, 2007.[5] Matthew 22:36-40.[6] Arch, Dave. The Conscience. From http://www.askapastor.org/conscience.html. Accessed on July 12, 2007.[7] I Corinthians 8:1-13.[8] I Corinthians 8:7.[9] Titus 1:15.[10] II Timothy 1:13, I Timothy 1:5.[11] Acts 24:16.[12] I John 3:21-22, Psalm 32:1-5.[13] I Peter 3:16, I Peter 2:12.[14] I Timothy 1:18-19.[15] Torraco, Stephen. Fundamental Option. From http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/dissent/fundoptn.htm. Accessed on July 14, 2007.[16] Pope John Paul II. Veritatis Splendor. From http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html. Accessed on July 12, 2007.[17]Lederer, Thomas G. Catholic Moral Theology: “Whose Sin is this Anyway?” From http://www.arthurstreet.com/moraltheology.html. Accessed on July 13, 2007.[18] Ibid.[19] Catholic Encyclopedia: Conscience. From http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04268a.htm. Accessed on July 13, 2007.[20] Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. From http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2109.htm. Accessed on July 12, 2007.[21] Free Will. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will. . Accessed on July 12, 2007.[22] Catholic United for the Faith. Fundamental Option. From http://www.cuf.org/Faithfacts/details_view.asp?ffID=241. . Accessed on July 14, 2007.[23] Shields-Wright, Karen. Reflections: Fundamental Option and the Virtues of the Provider. Dynamic Chiropractic. June 15, 1998, Volume 16, Issue 13.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

The Six Thinking Hats is about the Six Thinking Hats method which serves as an outline for thinking. The six hats stand for six ways for thinking. The White Hat thinking stands for facts, statistics, information and gaps. This first hat checks the data instead of presenting arguments and suggestions. The red hat thinking stands for intuition, emotions, and feelings. This second hat allows feelings on the subject matter without the need for logic. The black hat thinking stands for judgment and carefulness. This third hat permits logic to understand why a proposal does not match the facts, the experience, the system or the policy. The yellow hat thinking stands for something that will work and the reason why it will give benefits. This fourth hat is used not only to find the valuable in past events but also to find the outcome of some proposals. The green hat thinking stands for creativity, options, suggestions and changes. This fifth hat is used to offer what interesting alternative may be available. The blue hat thinking stands for the overview or controlling the thinking process. This last hat does not look at the subject but at the way the subject is thought of. All these hats represent directions to think instead of names for thinking. They may be put on and taken off to show the direction of thinking at work.This method is especially meaningful for me because I see that the hats may be used practically instead of reactively. I want to be more proactive in my thinking. I do not want to be just reacting to situations happening along the way. It promotes greater input from me. I feel fulfilled when I have more contribution than expected. It encourages better performance on my part. Whether at home or at school, I want to show the best in me. Also, it discourages my giving importance to my ego. When pride gets in the way, it affects my exertion of full performance effort. Even as I support the opposite view in the beginning, I can still contribute under whatever thinking hat. This is purposeful because I can give input to personal work using the blue hat or the yellow or the black.The book’s insights are important because the system of thinking can help me become a better performer in my tasks. My tasks involve lots of thinking. Thus, it does not feel right when a certain task fails despite the brainstorming. For example, I do not get to finish my assignment as scheduled. It feels bad because setting the time frame and devoting my time to this assignment involve some thinking. Just because of some distractions like phone calls or sleepiness, my assignment will have to be finished in an extended time or the morning after. However, with my introduction to the six thinking hats, I may approach my situation in different lights. I can put on the white hat and see that I should have added extra minutes for my assignment. On the other hand, I can put on the red hat and feel that my tired body needs recharging so I may sleep and continue my work after I have rested. I can put on and take off any hat to approach different ways to approach my situation.The insights are especially meaningful because the encouragement of full thinking and of performance does not give emphasis on the ego. The picture looks different when pride is involved. For example, if I am so used to getting high marks in papers, I will have built my pride. When I get a low mark in between, it shatters me. I may react that the mark should have been consistent with the high ones. I may also react that my point in the paper has been overlooked. I may still react that I deserve more than this mark for effort exerted on the paper. With the introduction of the six thinking hat method in my life, I can look at the picture differently. I may resolve that I should give more effort the next time. I may also look at the possible weaknesses of my paper. This way, I may be able to improve the next papers to come.I may be able to use these insights as a student, in my personal life and later as a professional because in all phases, I do thinking. As a student, school works involve lots of tasks that need thinking. These school works are expectedly difficult. Hence, I can use various thinking ways of approaching the complications. If I think the blue hat is better for use in solving accounting problems, then I can take off the initial black hat thinking. This is also true in my personal life. Personal tasks offer problems that seem not unlike those in school. Only, personal tasks are really more complicated than school tasks. Hence, the six thinking hats offer more ways of looking at my personal situation so I can fulfill my tasks. With many thinking approaches at hand, my performance will have been the best I can exert effort for. As for my future life as a professional, I will be expected to contribute inputs that will show improvement in the company I will be in. This good performance will have been a product of good thinking. Hence, the six thinking hats offer many ways by which to perform well. I can even influence colleagues into putting on a certain hat all at the same time. This way, the collective effort will help accomplish goals and create company development.As early as the present time, I may put on or take off any of the thinking hats in various areas that require my input contribution. Be it in school or home, the thinking hats are handy in drawing the best performance I can give.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

What Matters Most is about identifying my own values and being able to live them to the fullest. It is not unusual for me to feel that something is missing in my life because of conflicts between my actions and my personal values. Often, I find myself planning to do things but end up not going by that plan. If I intend to follow my plan of staying late to study more, I end up putting studying off for tomorrow. Then, I do not rise early, so I regret not having studied the night before. I see that there is something to be done about my own values in order to fulfill my plan. I understand that only proper action gets my plan done. Good thing, the book offers three steps for me to realize my priorities. First, I must discover what matters most to me. Next, I must make a plan to realize my priorities. Finally, I must act on my plan to realize my priorities. If I follow these steps, in no way will my actions be any more in conflict with my own values. I find the book especially important for citing heroes and the author himself as examples of people who know who they are and what they value in life. I always want to be the best that I can be, but always fall short of that. This is because my focus has yet defined my values. There are always distractions—putting things for tomorrow, changing plans suddenly, ignoring my priorities. It is a different case with the people cited in the book. The heroes I read in the beginning chapter have diverse missions. However, it seems to me that their commonality begins with their personal values. Also, they act on their personal missions to realize the great persons that they are. I think it is essential to be like them by being responsible with my priorities. This way, my experiences will show that I am more than being myself. More importantly, pursuing the plan that matters most to me helps me be myself perfectly. It is important for my personal values and action plan to be in harmony. When they go together, I have a guide that makes me live a really fulfilling life. My own experience shows that this is not always followed. As I mentioned, I intend to study more before sleeping but do not proceed as planned. I know that I must prioritize my studies but get distracted by several things. Often, I find myself spending more time watching TV shows or surfing the Internet or reading fashion magazines. While these activities are not exactly sinful, they move me away from my focus. Instead of valuing my studies, I neglect my aims with my own distractions. I always claim, “I have more time,” “I can get up early tomorrow.” The following day, I begin to cram again. Only then do I realize that I have to concentrate and to prioritize my values. If I have to study as planned, then I should act on it by focusing on my studies. There should be no waste of time on anything whatsoever. This way, I am saved from regretting about the lost time. I am also saved from regretting over broken personal promises. Most importantly, I am saved from unease, because with determination to study as planned, I find comfort and peace. The three steps to realizing what matters most in my life are helpful in many personal aspects. In my life as a student, planning aligned with action is important in my personal mission. My priority is my studies, and acting on my study plans helps me get the grades I aim to have. To be the professional my education is preparing me to be, readiness in my lessons should be my consistent priority. In my personal life, consistency in my priority matters, too. I may enjoy my own distractions, then what? I may be updated with happenings about people’s lives and other things on the TV, Net and written articles, to my plan’s expense. My life as a student is not far from my personal life, so studies come as a personal mission as well. This case comes handy in my future life as a professional, because my studies prepare me for it. I want to follow my parents’ leaning on business, so my future life benefits from my prioritized studies. Doing my planned tasks consistently today forms a routine that helps me be as consistent in my professional life soon. Fewer distractions prepare me to have more focus in business. My future plan to be in my parents’ business will be realized when this early, I follow an action plan. It helps to act in the present more than in the future. I have no hold of what happens soon, so I will act on my plans today. Since my home and my school are the two places I spend most of my time in, they are the main venues of my plan. The atmosphere of the school gets me to have more focus on studies so I tend to act on my plan on a regular basis. Meanwhile, my home can serve the purpose on a daily basis, before I go to sleep. Avoiding distractions in the present leaves me with less worries the next day. When I wake up the next day after a night of studying, I feel comfortable because I acted as planned. Becoming consistent with this will give me the chance to nurture an inner peace.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Capitalist development in the Third World manifests two contrasting pictures: one shows a center dominated by developed countries and a periphery crowded by un- and underdeveloped countries, while one shows an expansion that turns Third World countries into developed nations. Six examples of such newly-industrialized countries (NICs) are East Asian nations Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea and Latin American nations Brazil and Mexico. From mere suppliers of raw materials and agricultural products, these NICs became exporters of industrial products that led them to the developed center.With such rapid economic growth in the NICs, there were substantial improvements in the standards of living of their population mass, from life expectancy, infant mortality and literacy. These achievements seemed enough for optimists to equate growth with development and for these NICs to be considered as models of development in the Third World.However, the NIC model is criticized for the superexploitation of the labor force, the neglect of agriculture, ecological deterioration, the reign of authoritarianism, and the fragility of the capitalist development. Seeing that low wages, long hours of work, union repression, intensified export-oriented industrialization, air and water pollution, sub-democratic political regimes and risks to economic stability hound NICs, it seems to me that there are more negative consequences to capitalist development in the Third World than positive ones. As such, it proves true the “disarticulated model of peripheral capitalism.” This may not be true to East Asian NICs which exhibit several traits of capitalist development at the center, but then circumstances in these NICs helped accelerate their capitalist condition. Some of these bases include agricultural modernization preceding capitalist industrialization, destruction or absence of feudal landowning class to facilitate capital accumulation, their state’s role in concentrating the capital, the creation of free wage labor that develops capitalism and the subsequent raise in wages and productivity. They are somewhat lucky to have overcome obstacles to capitalist development like existing pre-capitalist classes with anti-reform powers, state that fails to make resources productive, labor force repression and slow increase in wages.The Philippines, while geographically an East Asian country by consideration, does not enjoy the circumstances that brought its neighbors to the center of capitalist development. It still languishes in peripheral capitalism and despite the trickles of industrialization and modernization, the criticisms on NICs are menacingly present here. The country can advance to the center but obstacles common in all un- and underdeveloped nations should be overcome first, a process that is not easy to perform. Should I become a capitalist myself, I hope to help the country achieve considerable growth from capitalist development by providing just working conditions and compensation to my laborers, because the removal of this oppression can give way to other changes.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Laurice Guillen’s Tanging Yaman is a deeply moving story about marriage and family life. The aging matriarch Loleng (Gloria Romero) is already widowed and her children have all been married and rearing families of their own in various places. The poor yet happy family of the eldest, former prodigal son Dan (Johnny Delgado), is Loleng’s only company in lahar-stricken Pampanga whereas those of defiant Art (Edu Manzano) and of struggling Grace (Dina Bonnevie) settle in faraway Manila and the United States, respectively. When the deceased patriarch’s properties are to be sold due to Loleng’s debilitating illness, the siblings come together for the said legacy’s disposal, but the initially bitter reunion becomes an avenue for reconciliation of their problems with one another, with themselves and with the family.A lot of ideas about love, marriage and family are represented in the film. Central to this is the love of the matriarch for her tension-filled family. When the prodigal son returned for forgiveness, the mother received him. When this comeback did not crush the grudge Art held against his brother, the devout Catholic Loleng offered this all to God, sacrificing herself as an instrument in delivering a miracle to her family. It was her devastating disease that brought her children together to resolve old resentments that threaten to affect even the family’s third generation. Her self-sacrifice, then, is her ultimate showcase of love for her children torn by hatred that may be traced when her strong-willed husband was still alive. Meanwhile, ideas about marriage and family are manifested in varying degrees. Even as Dan has already spent his inheritance such that his family did not have enough to get by, he lives with the family happily. Apparently, the absence of financial comfort did not deter Dan from leading a family life full of contentment. It was a different case altogether for his brother Art, who was at the peak of success yet alienated by hate and ambition from his siblings and even his own family. He unconsciously hurt his wife and children because he could not accept that in the family he left behind, his elder brother enjoyed their parents’ favoritism to his personal detriment. Meanwhile, Grace fled to the United States after eloping with her boyfriend. Her mother objected her marriage to Francis (Joel Torre), so the elopers settled abroad where they were struggling to raise their own family.Personally, I learned a lot of things out of the issues presented in the film. First, faith works. When one has strong faith in God, as what may be seen in Loleng’s character, miracles can happen. She trusted God such that her brood became united instead of being torn further apart when she was struck by a deteriorating sickness. Second, money is not everything. It cannot serve as a measure of happiness and contentment, as may be seen in brothers Dan and Art. Dan may not have material wealth, but he lived contentedly with the only wealth he has: his family. On the other hand, Art may be rich, but his material wealth was not enough to erase the grudge of his past, which makes him and his family unhappy. Third, communication is important. Because of lack of communication, the family is estranged not only physically but also emotionally. When ultimately, the siblings come together and arrive at a confrontation, problems are revealed and that paved the way for understanding, harmony and reconciliation. Finally, forgiveness is a human necessity. As human beings, we sin like the characters portrayed in the film. Nonetheless, even God forgives, so we should find it in our hearts to forgive one another of our mutual transgressions, willed or accidental. This way, we can move on in life and become better persons in the long run.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

"What Matters Most" is about the definition of my person and the things that matter to me. It tells about my roles as a family member, friend and student. In order to perform each role, I have personal values that govern me like love for my family, friends and studies. I perform my roles because I have the personal mission of becoming a successful person with a happy family, lots of friends and a satisfying career in business. The book tells that I will have what matters to me when who I am and who I want to be match my perception of reality.I found the book especially important when it tries to have me define who I really am. It is often frustrating when I encounter this question because the first person I am supposed to know fully well is myself. The frustration grow all the more when I cannot even answer it. Thankfully, reading this book has helped me give more focus on myself so I may define myself as a family member, for instance. It is not enough that I am the first born of my parents. There is also more to being the eldest among three siblings. As a first born, I realized that I have the responsibility of looking over my younger brothers in my parents’ absence. My parents cannot be always there for us because of their respective jobs, so I can take charge in giving my brothers some adult guidance. If not for the book, I will not have felt the essential need to be a little parent to my siblings.It is important that this little parental role on my part matches my beliefs in reality. Seeing how my mother would go restless and, sometimes, sleepless in fulfilling her duties, I believed that it’s difficult to be a parent. However, every moment she brings the youngest to his swimming lessons, or the elder brother to school, I know that the duty is done out of love. This came to me when I think hard why my parents did not have to hire a driver. They can, of course, but chose not to since they want to keep in greater touch with me and my brothers. That is a reality with parents: they do their duty out of love. When it becomes my turn to look over my siblings, I feel that my role should be filled with love to make the adult guidance more realistic. The book shows that this can be done if my vision meets reality.As a student, in my personal life and later as a professional, I should match my personal definition and the things that matter to me. As a student, it matters to me to study well in all subjects. This is because I see excellence in subjects as an accomplishment of good education. With good education, I can fulfill my mission of becoming a business professional. My business engagement will be my means to become an agent of social transformation. Also, in my personal life, my social circle matters to me. My relationship with my family is a tie that cannot be cut. Meanwhile, my relationship with my friends is a tie that must grow stronger. These relationships enrich my values and help define myself as a social being. My mission is to reach out to more people, and that is possible if I relate well with the persons nearest me. Later in my career, I see that my aim of good studies will somehow reflect on my aim to become a business professional. My desire to excel in school will hopefully give me enough concentration to carry on until after graduation. I know that if it becomes habitual on my part, it becomes a part of my character. It is important to form the habit of excellence because this is a key to my success as a professional. I can only be realistic with my goal to succeed when my personal values figure well early in my life.Everyday is a moment to live the things that matter to me. When I am in school (as always I am), my daily goal is to excel in all subjects. I realize that by preparing for the class. This in itself is a preparation to my future in business. When I am at home, my daily goal is to be more parent-like to my siblings, especially when my parents count on me to look after my brothers. I realize this by giving adult guidance, all done with love. I hope to be a good parent soon, and playing an adult role to my siblings is a good preparation. In the company of friends, my daily goal is to spend quality time relating with them. This way, I can enhance my experience as a friend as well as a person. Fun times, petty fights, sharing and caring are important goals that I want to help me when I meet more people soon. Shaping a habit out of these will define the person that I am and that I want to be.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

In simple language, 10 Natural Laws of Successful time and Life Management tells that I can deal with my time and with my life with success. This happens when I learn how to organize and to prioritize. My busy student’s life makes it seem hard to manage enough time to rest and have recreation. Nonetheless, setting priorities can work effectively. Of course, I want to make my schedule appear more manageable. That way, I will not be overwhelmed by its hectic look. Manageable time keeps me positive and away from distraction. I want to be focused when I reach for my aims in, say, school. I want to be able to manage my time in studies in order to have time for family, friends, and myself.The ten laws toward a more successful time and life management start with the assessment of my life’s most important things. Some of these are assisting my parents to run the household and the family business, and keeping in constant touch with my friends. These are important since they give me self-fulfillment. If they are settled, my own affairs may be prioritized, so I may recognize who I really am as well as what I want to become. It is here that the ten laws over things to do become necessary. It is important to control my life by controlling my time because time composes my life. The yellow post-it notes I remind myself with have more meaning now because they mark my activities and the time allotted for each. My governing values also establish my personal fulfillment. Deciding that my priorities should be schoolwork and family and friend duties will spell my personal values and achievement. These values are reflected in my daily events and eventually give me peace within. My activities involving the school and my social circle are written in the notes and with them as reminder, I am rest assured of one plan to the next. I also must leave my comfort zone to attain important goals. In order to finish each plan, I will follow my activities closely, leaving nothing to chance. My daily planning can also increase my focus. Such a planning specifies my aim of relating more to myself as well as to my family and friends. All these contribute to my time management. Meanwhile, my behavior manifests my true beliefs. My driven desire to accomplish my noted plans tells that I believe I can earn my goals. If these go along with reality, I fulfill my needs. Each plan I make, say finishing all my assignments in my three-hour study habit, is realistic and worthy for me. Whatever wrong beliefs I redress, I erase negative behaviors. If things do not go my way, I can look at it positively, a learning experience, for example. Also, my self-esteem radiates from within. This optimism gives me self-confidence. Finally, what I give more, I will have more. If other persons get affected by my positive mood, the more positive my outlook becomes. These, ultimately, help in my life management.These natural laws are essential for me who often think there is not enough time for everything. Having read these plain, effective means for successfully managing my hours and life, I am hopeful that when I list down activities in post-it notes, I do not get frustrated. Instead, I want to be more productive during study hours and during my precious moments with my family and friends. Feeling more secure with more efficient time management, I hope to have more confidence, happiness and self-fulfillment. I want to be satisfied every time I check the notes I already accomplished. I want my time and life to be more organized.I can use these laws as a student, in my personal life, and later as a professional with the technique of planning, prioritizing and value formation that will organize my time and life. In pointing out my highest priorities and most valued things, I can be more focused in realizing my school and other activities. I may assess the events within my control, say the time I allot for each homework and beyond my control, say traffic which affects my time allotment in getting home. I may get rid of time-wasting activities like watching unproductive programs on television or surfing gossip columns online. My plan that works for getting things done shall be contained in an organizer so I may check at once if I realized my goals in line with my values.Beginning today, my managing time will match getting things done by referring to my time-focused organizer notes anywhere I may go. I hope that through this, I will have a successful feeling of accomplishment and well-being.

Monday, July 09, 2007

In his reflections on the various approaches of how the ruling class wields power in the society, Goran Therborn considers the subject of such power and the extent of such power as exercised. Like Marx and Weber who have their respective definitions of class, Therborn asserts that class may be defined in who exploits whom. The ones in power—whether they be the elite, the military, the politicians, the capitalists—exploit the powerless in order to perform that which they do when they rule. First of this functions is to stay in their ruling position and the next is to be accountable for social change.The ruling class has to maintain its imperial position of having power over the ruled. It conducts this by using its power to reproduce a particular form of exploitation and domination. For the elite class, it has to use its money to stay up the social ladder. Money is its power in order to have influence over others. Using money, the elite can have the privilege of not having to work by, say, establishing businesses, in which case they become capitalists. It can also have the privilege of controlling the bureaucracy by dictating the government under the threats of withdrawing its material support which is power lent to a temporary ruler. Meanwhile, for the military, it has to use its armament to keep social order. Using its power, the military rules over the civilians who, being private, do not have the privileged access of government funds for defense. Guns and other forms of arm mechanisms can be used to safeguard social order or worse, to threaten the civilians into silence, as may be seen in military juntas or dictatorships. Also, the politicians can use their position to influence bureaucratic transactions that will prolong their power or extend their influence. This can be ascertained by certain officials who are hell-bent into changing the constitution in order to wield dictator-like dominion over the citizens. Finally, the capitalists maintain their ruling position by keeping low wage for the laborers and amassing all the surpluses porduced from their capital and properties. In this case, it is they who have upward mobility instead of the laborers who produced the very suprplus which constitutes their power.It cannot be said that these power-trippers account for social change, since they need their power to keep ruling the ruled. There is little development in the society caused by these exploiters. They even use the state apparatuses in order for their power to proliferate. This they do by their continued pratice of power mentioned above. They may be distinct rulers from each other, but they are interrelated by their capacity to duplicate exploitation and domination over their subjects. They use state power to exploit the rules for their own benefits.Gleaning from this situation, I understand that the power struggle between the ruler and the ruled should be settled before there can be real social change. Since the ruler has the power to facilitate this, it is the one mainly responsible for the generation of development. All the subjects of pwer can do is to resist the exploitation made by the ruler and this can be in the form of a protest, or even a revolution. The ruler is irreparably driven to keep its power, but only when it feels the ruled can overwhelm it that it may be permissive to social change.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management is about discovering my values and organizing my life meaningfully. Before reading the book, I rarely even have time to consider the things that are valuable to me. For example, it is important for me to get things done. So, on my daily planner, I make little notes of what to do. I enlist that I must go meet a friend for some heart-to-heart talk over lunch. However, I end up canceling the appointment to give way to eating. When I asked for a reset schedule, I realized too late that the meeting could have been done while having lunch with my friend. Not being able to do this and other things seems to me that my values are beyond me. When the book confirms that I can control my life, I had to know how. Reading it, I evaluated my priorities. I found out that seeing what I value, I can manage my time. With this, I can lead an arranged, meaningful life.I found the book especially meaningful for its formula in listing down my life’s priorities. The first five teaches me to manage my time. First, I can control my life by controlling my time. I believe that this can happen when I follow my planner’s list strictly, whether to go to the dentist or to drop by to the library. Second, my values form my ground for personal achievement. If I can fulfill what I can do with my time, I become an achiever. I value the use of my time in getting appointments with my organization or classmates done, and that gives me personal fulfillment. In the simplest coming to the class on time every day, my values are shown. That makes me sigh with contentment. I should not be afraid to risk spending time for all my daily plans because I will get to my objective anyway. Maintaining this planning for everyday in both school, home and others helps me set my life’s priorities. Here is where the second part comes in. The laws concerning my life’s control start with my behavior which mirrors my beliefs. When I follow my plans to the letter, it shows that I believe that I can fulfill them within my controlled time frame. Hence, when I realize that I can spend half an hour understanding a lesson, I satisfy my want. By choosing to believe I can do so instead of fearing that I can’t, I minimize my negative acts. I start to feel my confidence coming inside me. I give more effort to realizing my plans, and I feel I have more time to do things like pick up a good book.These natural laws are important because they can ensure my success in life. When I have more control of my time and my life, I can organize my priorities. My priorities include having more time to study without sacrificing my quality moments with my family and friends. I may fulfill this when I spend my time wisely. In this fast-paced world, I understand that each moment counts. It occurs to me sometimes that I should not sleep if only to fulfill important tasks. My Accounting course gets harder every day, so instead of going out with my siblings, I choose to stay home studying. Then, I realize that I should not be a slave of my time. I mark my planner and devote a certain time for going out and studying. I cannot afford to lose my family in the same way that I do not want to risk my course. With creative day planning and following it strictly, no precious time is sacrificed. I believe that with this, the ten laws are creating an impact in my life already. I realize what I value most, and prioritize things according to them. When the laws govern me fully, my success can come easy.As a student, I can use this set of laws to devote time inside the classroom and for my study hours. I may divide my time for all my subjects, allowing sufficient time to understand lessons for each. After spending an hour for one, I may get up and walk around for relaxation. Afterwards, I may be back to studying again. With that, I do not lose my focus. To begin with, I need concentration in studies if I want to achieve the goal of good grades. This set of laws may also be used in my personal life. Since I have a life to lead outside school, I should value being with my family and friends. In the first place, they help me grow as a better person. Managing time to bond with them despite my hectic school schedule includes them in my life’s priorities. I want them to be a part of my fulfilled goals and success. Later as a professional, this set of laws can contribute to my personal satisfaction. Time management is hard to implement. However, if I get used to planning my time and prioritizing my objectives in life, it will be effortless by the time my career keeps me busy. My focus, then, will have been much improved. My professional priorities, namely to sustain a sound business and a circle of clients, will have been set in advance.Right in school and now, I may use these laws to manage my time, organize my life and pursue my personal fulfillment.